


Love-Day Present

by viviandeluca



Category: Love Rosie (2014), Where Rainbows End
Genre: Best Friends, Emails, F/M, Fluff, Friendship, Kissing, Loneliness, Secret Admirer, True Love, cecilia ahern, parenting, proposal, valentines day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-13
Updated: 2016-05-13
Packaged: 2018-06-08 03:09:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,157
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6836590
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/viviandeluca/pseuds/viviandeluca
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rosie Dunne receives an letter from a secret admirer before Valentines Day and her best friend Alex announces he is coming down for a surprise visit and will help her prepare for her date.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Love-Day Present

**Author's Note:**

> I messed myself up by watching the movie recently so this is mixed with both novel and movie story line... I apologize. Also, the characters are in their early twenties and Alex is in the middle of his studies to become a doctor.

Rosie fingered the letter cautiously and read it again, one read away from memorizing it. She couldn't for the life of her guess who sent such a preposterous letter to her a day before Valentines Day. It seemed almost rude that someone would assume she was even free on the holiday, what if she had had a date? This realization made her make an 'O' with her lips and then glance at her daughter who was running around the apartment in a fairy dress. 

Whoever sent the letter must have known her well enough to know that she had no date for the holiday. They also must have been privy to the fact that it was nearly impossible to leave without taking Katie out too. Not that she minded, but it wasn't often she went out for the sake of adult fun. She had almost forgotten a life outside of fairies and superheroes still existed. 

She smiled wryly at the letter and knew instantly she must tell Alex about it, it was something he would find amusing. He might even convince her to go meet the admirer. 

She pulled out her laptop from the drawer in bedroom and carried it back down to the kitchen table where she could keep an eye on Katie.

"Honey, are you hungry yet?" Katie stopped and glanced at Rosie for only a moment before shaking her head and resuming her conversation with the Ironman action figure in her hand. Apparently Ironman was on a mission to save the fairy world. Rosie found this curious since only last week her daughter had told her Ironman and his fellow Avengers were out to destroy the Disney princesses. Though if there was anything Rosie had learned from her daughter, it was that princesses and fairies were thoroughly different. 

She opened the letter flat against the small kitchen table and opened her email, typing her best friend's email address in quickly. 

-

Dear Alex

Alex, you will not believe what ridiculous note I've received in the mail. It has no return address and it may just be serial killer for all I know. Tell me what you think; 

"Rosie my love, I request your delightful presence on Valentines Day at 8pm for a lovely dinner in honour of your beauty. Be at the Beaumont River if you so wish to dine with me."

It's ridiculous right? What if I were to go and then be brutally murdered outside some rich person restaurant? How insanely awesome would it be to read that in the papers? 

Love, Rosie

-

She smiled as she sent that and stared at her fridge intently. From the kitchen table she could make out lots of photos of her and her daughter, practically growing up together. She still couldn't believe that she was only bordering twenty three years old and Katie was already four. Life was going so quickly yet she still had so much time. That was one thing that she loved, the time she would have with her daughter as she got older. It was incredibly hard having a child so young, in some sense her daughter was what people called a mistake, but it felt nothing like that to her. The only other person she would ever love almost as much as Katie was Alex. 

That was an incredible abundance of love she felt towards those two. 

On the old, obnoxiously loud fridge were other photos too, lots of her and Alex. Ones from their youth and even more from the times they visited each other. Whenever Rosie and Alex found the time to visit, Alex made it his mission to document almost every second together. So many laughs and outrageous faces for them to look at whenever they missed each other. 

"Mommy," her daughter said loudly as she came rushing through the kitchen, pulling Rosie out of her daze. "Is Alex coming for love day?" 

Rosie giggled and reached out to embrace the little girl. She had some pronunciation troubles and 'Valentines' was a word they were working on. "Sorry darling, Alex is busy tomorrow. He's all the way back in America. He has someone special for love day there." 

Katie pouted and stopped bouncing around just seconds after Rosie let go of their hug. "You're special," she said, her face scrunching up as she tried to understand what her mother was telling her. Rosie smiled, amused by her daughter's thoughts about her relationship with her best friend. 

"I'm special too, so are you. He loves us so much. But he has a different love for other special girls too." 

As Rosie tried putting it in simple terms, she realized how strange their relationship was. When Alex visited, to Katie he was Daddy, but when he was gone it was just Alex. To Rosie he was a best friend, a soulmate in so many ways. When he was gone he felt somewhat like a ghost. She hated every moment without him there to share her life and her daughter's life. 

The little girl ran off again, obviously momentarily bored with adult relationships as children often are. Rosie's computer was flashing and when she pulled her email back up, she grinned from ear to ear. Alex has emailed back in almost record time. Some days she waited hours, sometimes it was more than a week. 

-

Dear Rosie,

What a desperate sap, you must have really put a good show on for the fella if he's fallen that hard. Maybe you should be careful who you're flirting with. Honestly though, he's practically waxing sonnets about you already, maybe you should meet him? I was actually thinking about coming home tonight. I bought a plane ticket and I'll stop by tomorrow to help you get ready for your date? 

I'll see you then, lovebird. Stay away from civilization if you want to stop breaking hearts. 

Also, I had this dream that the earth was a glass ball everyone was in the centre of. Except we were all just trees, looking outside this glass ball at space. It was so magnificent Rosie, you should have seen it. What do you think that means?

Love, Alex 

-

She pondered the meaning of this dream, not as half as strange as his others and wondered if she should respond right away. There was no point if he was busy and would show up tomorrow. 

Oh God, he was coming tomorrow. 

She looked frantically around her mess of an apartment and analyzed ways she could make it presentable in only one night.

And then there was how she looked; she had cut her own hair and now it was in a wavy, uneven bob. Not to mention the lack of sleep she was getting because of a certain little girl having nightmares and sharing a bed with her mother. Katie had restless dreams and kicked like a bull. The dark half moons under Rosie's eyes were criminal. Alex was going to question her sanity. She sometimes questioned it. 

She jumped up and sped around the house, cleaning as quickly as she could as if he was coming right then and there. By the time she was finished she had a little girl looking up at her with annoyance.

"Hungry," Katie said bluntly and pointed at the kitchen that Rosie had just finished tidying (or throwing everything in the cupboard more like it). Rosie nodded and took a deep breathe, glancing around the small apartment and realizing it was as good as it was going to get. She stalked over to the fridge and noticed they were out of almost every beverage. 

"Sorry Katie, but no orange juice tonight. I'll get more when I get paid next week, alright?" Katie shrugged and let her mother off the hook, which wasn't something that occurred often. Maybe life was giving her a nice little break. A date tomorrow, a happy daughter and her best friend was coming to visit. 

Now was Rosie was just waiting for the punch line. 

"We'll have pasta for dinner. Maybe next week we'll have pizza?" Katie jumped up and ran over to her mother, hugging her legs. Nothing got that girl more excited than pizza. 

"Can Alex have pizza too?" Rosie plastered a tight smile on her face and shrugged; Alex had a busy life, he was just finishing school and he already had a job. He would have to go back to the States tomorrow if she knew from past experiences. He was spontaneous but also practical when it came down to his future. Something she had never quite mastered. 

"We'll see how long he stays," Rosie said, hugging her daughter tightly and lifting her into the air. She spun around and laughter filled the kitchen as they both fell dizzy. She set Katie down gently and grasped the counter for a moment before getting back to making dinner. 

"Alex stay for pizza," Katie said softly, determined and convinced he would stay for them and pizza night. She was so sure of herself and her thoughts, she was a strong little girl with a huge mind. She reminded Rosie of Alex so much it was shocking to her sometimes that he wasn't Katie's father. Instead the man who co-created her lovely daughter was a pathetic loser she used to get back at Alex, probably living it up somewhere hoping that Rosie would never contact him again. Lucky for him, she never planned on it. 

As long as he kept paying child support. 

"Will he?" 

Katie laughed and danced away like she knew everything the world had to offer. 

-

Dear Rosie

I'll be over soon. Tell Katie I have the present I promised her and that she has to be a good girl if she wants it. Can't wait to see you;

Love, Alex 

-

She exited out of her email and closed her laptop, rolling her eyes before pulling her hair back into a messy ponytail. Katie was sitting across from her eating fish sticks and mash, looking impatient and tired. 

"Alex says you have to be good to get your present. I haven't heard about any presents, when did he tell you this?" 

Katie lifted her head and tapped her feet against the floor, getting excited at the thought of a present. Rosie wasn't even sure that she remembered what it was, her daughter was excited for any mention of presents. 

"Tell him I'll be good! I'll be very good, I'll never stop! We're ready for the present!" She shoveled more food into her mouth and then slid off her chair, bolting out of the kitchen. Rosie felt quite taken aback and was more curious than ever to know what was going on inside her daughter's mind. Whatever Alex had promised incidentally involved her too, meaning that it was something Rosie felt betrayed not to have heard about. 

Half an hour later she was waiting downstairs where it was drafty because the landlord hadn't fixed the door properly. The door bell rang and she felt less ready than she had before hand. Her make up was done and she was wearing a modest summer dress with leggings because of the surprisingly nice weather. She skipped to the door and opened it after a moment to take a deep breath. 

"Rosie!" Alex exclaimed so loudly and quickly that she forgot how to breathe. She didn't even get a good look at him before he had her enveloped in the tightest hug she had ever received. Her face was mashed against his shoulder and arms were glued to her sides. 

Alex smelled of vanilla and anti-stress hand cream that he always seemed to carry. She was already crying before it registered in her brain that was he real, his body holding hers and his shaky breath against her ear. It had been almost a year since she had seen him in person but it felt ridiculously longer. 

"Alex, I think I've forgotten how to breathe," she said quite literally breathlessly. He slowly let her go but kept his hands on her shoulders like he was afraid she would float away. In every sense he was good at keeping her grounded. 

"I'm so sorry, I've made you cry now," he said apologetically, a wide grin still contradicting the guilt. He knew they were happy tears, even if they wouldn't stop flowing from her beautiful brown eyes. 

Rosie wasn't quite sure if she even wanted to stop crying, it felt so good so let her emotions be that free. "It's okay. I've missed you so much I almost forgot if you were real, Alex." 

He wiped some of her tears and his touch sobered the rest, her breath finally coming back to her at a normal speed. 

His haircut looked better than it had over Skype, it was shorter at the sides and the dark sandy hair made his face more mature. He looked so different and very the same, like a jawbreaker almost. Beneath many layers he was still so young but on the outside was a tougher, yet sweeter version. No longer were they constantly cracking jokes and poking fun at each other. They were at a point in their friendship where time wasn't to be wasted. 

"Shall we go upstairs? I've yet to see the infamous drafty apartment." 

Rosie nodded and led him up the stairs to her door. After she unlocked it she felt him tug at her ponytail, pulling the elastic off and scaring her. She stumbled through the now partly opened door. She would have fallen to the floor if Alex's hand hadn't wrapped around her middle and pulled her back into him. 

"I was going to say your hair looks better down, I had no intention of scaring you to the floor," he said in a humoured but slightly mocking voice into her ear. Knowing he couldn't see her face, she rolled her eyes as he released her. 

"Let's just go to my room, you're late so I have to start getting ready now," Rosie said coolly, leading him down the hall to her room. 

He stood by the door frame, observing the room and her grabbing random things she needed. Her bedroom was relatively small but she managed to fit a queen sized bed, a wardrobe and a dresser that held all of her things. On her walls were even more pictures than in the kitchen and tons of doodles that Katie had done when Rosie wasn't looking. Luckily they were all washable but she admired the charm. 

"It's cozy," he said almost happily, like he was admiring the room too. She stopped rushing about and smiled at him, never tiring of seeing his boyish face. She should have known Alex was never one to care about how proper or put together things were. 

"Yeah it is, we're really happy here even though it gets small. We're so great, the two of us, happier than ever. Everything is working out so well and we're really happy," she said awkwardly, trailing off after realizing she was aimlessly rambling. In fact, she didn't even know if what she was saying were true and Alex seemed to have noticed that. 

His smile was tighter and she felt like he was giving her the look of pity. He had only been there for ten minutes and he already saw through her act. 

"You've lost some weight, and you seem like you've been drinking a lot of coffee. Rosie if you ever need some help, I'm your best friend. I'll do or be anything you need." 

Rosie scoffed and turned to the wall, no longer facing him. She wasn't in the mood to lie nor was she in one to start a troubling conversation. Everything she loved was in her tiny apartment and that was enough.

"How is school? You're almost done; that's ought to be so thrilling," she said quickly, turning back around, feeling a little more composed. 

Alex sighed and went to sit on the bed. He made a strange face and pulled something from underneath him. He had been sitting on a tiara that Katie had left under the blankets from their morning game of "Undercover Princess". 

Rosie laughed at his expression and covered her eyes when Alex put the crown on his head. "Does this make me a princess like you, Rosie?"

He was mocking her again, making her wonder what he really thought of her life. Of course she wasn't offended, Alex was always ridiculous and she had learned to humour him. He would say that she did find him funny, but she denied that. 

"You're not wearing that on your mystery date right?" Rosie looked down at her dress and frowned, seeing nothing wrong with the simple dress and cozy leggings. "You're dressed like a mom going on a date for the first time in two years." 

"Well fuck Alex, I sort of am. I'm not sure it's been two years but-" He shifted his weight on the bed and invited her to sit down beside him by patting the bed.

Rosie begrudgingly sat down and glared at him for extra measure. Who was he to tell her that she didn't look good enough for a date? Just because he had some fancy girlfriend in America didn't mean that she had to meet some standard. 

"I don't even want to go on some stupid date. I want to stay here with your judgmental arse." 

He looked surprised and then scratched his jaw, like a nervous tic she had never noticed before. He swallowed and nodded, his eyes flickering to her.  
"Rosie, are you happy?" 

She was caught by surprise which wasn't often around Alex; she knew him so well. She slowly nodded, knowing that she really was in so many ways. 

"I really am, sometimes things are really hard and I feel like I can't be happy. That's just a stupid voice in my head though. I have Katie and I see my family often still. I think that when I feel sad it's usually because I don't have you with me." Rosie put her hand on Alex's and brushed her thumb across his pinkie. His hands were some much larger than hers that she felt an odd need to laugh. 

"I love your laugh, it's never changed. It still sounds the same from when we were only twelve," he said with an amused smile. She rested her head on his shoulder and sighed, life was long and Alex understood that better than anyone. Only in their early twenties and Alex and her had already experienced so much, mostly together. 

"Tell me about her?"

Alex flinched and then seemed tighter under Rosie's head. She instantly felt guiltily, she hadn't known this was a sore subject. She didn't know much about his life anymore she supposed. Not that she was going to complain to him about it. 

"Sorry, things have been changing so quickly recently. It's hard to explain. But I guess I want to talk about it out loud." He took a deep breath and Rosie's body moved in sync with his. She suddenly wondered if she really wanted to hear about some love over in America. 

"She's stunning, she always has been but just recently it became more clear. She's also hilarious, but she thinks she a bit more funny than she is. I like her that way though, I like everything about her. Oh Rosie, I think I'm so in love with her that I'll scare her away eventually. I don't know how much longer I can last without her." His voice cracked and she almost didn't hear it. Rosie had always been good at reading Alex but this time things were different. 

She sat upright and turned her body into his, grabbing his face with her hands and forcing him to look at her. 

"You are Alex, my favourite man in the whole entire world. Any girl would be insanely lucky to be loved even a little bit by you. Tell her, love her for the rest of your life and don't waste it wondering if you ever deserved her or if it would have worked. What the hell are you doing here if some girl you love is waiting for you?" 

His eyes were more clear then, the threat of tears fading. He looked suddenly calmer, like everything had fixed itself with her words alone. 

"Rosie, I was the one that sent that valentine," he whispered with a guilty smile. She practically jumped away from him, out of shock and annoyance. 

"Why would you do a ridiculous thing like that?" She said in an almost trilled voice. He laughed and pulled her closer to him, she could feel breathe on her cheek and see the flecks of bronze in his eyes. "You almost sent me on some wild, pointless mystery date!"

"I was going to just stay and eat with you once we got there, don't worry. But it was to get you back for when we were younger and you sent that valentine to me but refused to admit it."

"You got pissy about it and accused me of being in love with you; gee how could I forget," she said rolling her eyes. She remembered she had felt sick to her stomach with worry that he wouldn't ever talk to her again because girls were apparently gross at the time.

"But you were," he said softly, his hand reaching to brush her hair that was still a mess.

"No I wasn't-"

"I am," he said slowly, but not giving Rosie even a second to process what he was saying before he leaned over her and pushed her gently back into the bed. She saw his eyes, Alex's expressive and wonderful eyes and realized that they had changed. He didn't look at her the same way and she hadn't noticed before. Was she looking at him differently too? 

He leaned down and kissed her softly, hardly even a kiss and more of a whisper. A whisper that spoke more than words itself and a promise that Rosie had never received. 

Alex loved her and he wasn't going to let her go. It was so clear the more his lips moved with hers, building until they were completely devouring each others air supply. What had taken them so long? Life? 

Nothing was going to hold them back now. Rosie made that promise to herself. 

"Mommy?" 

Alex couldn't have jumped farther away from Rosie, his hand yanking from her thigh. Rosie scrambled to get off the bed and stand upright. 

Katie just glanced from her mother to the man who had been attacking her lips and she just smiled. 

"Did she say yes to the present?" Katie asked with a growing grin, looking at Alex then. Alex blushed and shook his head, looking at the floor. 

Rosie was astounded that first of all; her daughter was not at all surprised by their activity, and second of all, Alex was blushing. The whole world must have been going mad at that moment.

"Alex? What present?" 

Alex grabbed her hands in his and stood directly across from her, gazing at her with the softest eyes and the gaze she now recognized as his love for her. 

"Rosie, I love you more than anyone in the world and I've waited too long to just stay away from you and forget how I feel. I'm going to finish school, then I'm moving back here. If you'll let me, and if you love me with the same passion that I love you, one day I swear I'm going to marry you." 

Rosie didn't even realize that she was crying until her tears hit her hands, It was strange how in only a moment everything she knew about herself, about Alex, was replaced with knowledge far more beautiful and happy. She had her daughter, her best friend and her family. And now she had a different kind of love. 

Had it always been there?

"You have a few months, Rosie. I can always continue with my residency and schooling in America if you say no. But I'm sick of missing the best parts in your life, and Katie's life. I'm ready to be here again and I'm ready to give you everything."

-

Dear Rosie,

Before I take this flight I want you to know something. Our life is beginning a new chapter, not to be a gross sap but frankly, it is. We're going to learn new things about each other and we're going to fight a bit too. I've never raised a child before so I might let Katie do wild things. I just want you to know that no matter how many times things seem difficult, choosing you has been the best decision I have ever made. I love you my darling and I will always, completely love you. 

Love, Alex


End file.
